How does unlocking work?

Some phones are manufactured to be unlocked phones— these phones are called “factory unlocked” phones. Most phones, however, are manufactured with a software lock in the phone to make sure it can’t be used with any other carriers. These phones become unlocked when the carrier permanently removes or uninstalls the software lock, which can be done remotely on request from the phone’s owner. After this process, a factory unlocked phone is identical to a phone that has been unlocked after purchase. Orchard carries both factory unlocked and carrier unlocked phones, as these are the only permanent and legitimate types of unlocked phones.